


Also Ran

by Scappodaqui



Series: Radio [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, Historical Accuracy, Historical References, Historical Track and Field, In-Universe RPF, Inspired by Real Events, RPF, Radio Host Jim Morita, Science, Track and Field, in honor of Jesse Owens, radio show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 16:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6057811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scappodaqui/pseuds/Scappodaqui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Jesse Owens on New World Radio, 1961</i><br/>Owens chats with host Jim Morita about his race against Captain America twenty years earlier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Also Ran

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cabloom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabloom/gifts).



**1935**

_“Draper, Peacock, Anderson, Owens, O’Sullivan!”_

_“Peacock’s gonna win,” Bucky said, “But Owens is beautiful, do you see him run? Beautiful. Peacock’s like a steam engine but Owens is like water, just flowing, _streaming_.”_

_The runners dug into the soft stuff of the track and knelt, a prayerful movement. Bucky knew it from the times he’d made the same motion himself, shoving dirt out and setting his feet in place, tensing the muscles of his legs and bringing his head down, hips up. All the blood seemed to rush to his head and the start when it came brought a relief like pins and needles as that blood flooded all his body._

_It had rained, so the track would, he knew, be wet and spongy--no fast times today, barring the miracle that could at any moment strike in the beautiful chaos of sport. Dark gloom and clouds still brooded and rainwater sparkled like tiny gems on hats and jackets. A smell of mulch, and wet grit._

_Neither of the two favorites started fast, but rather accelerated steadily, surging out in front of the white men by the sixty meter mark. As they pounded into the finish, Peacock threw up his hands--he was about to collide with a group of photographers, who scattered willy-nilly around him like a flock of smaller birds taking flight._

* * *

 

**1961**

JM: …. been hearing all about the integrated circuit lately, which borders on science fiction. We’re talking about a circuit the size of a pencil point! Imagine someday a radio built of such circuits; it might fit in your pocket.

When I began building radios, we had to use vacuum tubes. Transistors seemed like a wild jump forward. Now, Jack Kilby, that’s Jack Kilby, folks, of Texas Instruments, has put forth the idea of the integrated circuit. Robert Noyce, and we talked to him last week, has now submitted his patent for what he’s calling the unitary circuit. I like to think we’re a nation on the brink of change here, and I hope our circuits aren’t the only thing that are going to be integrated. It’s hard to keep up with it all.

Speaking of keeping up, I hope I can keep up with our next guest. Well, I’m quite sure I can’t. He’s maybe the fastest men who’s ever lived, Jesse Owens.

Best-known for winning four gold medals in front of Hitler at the 1936 Olympics, Mr. Owens also held the world broad jump record for twenty-five years--until just a few months ago, in fact. Well done to Ralph Boston for breaking that record by just a quarter inch.

Mr. Owens is less-known for his race against not only the German athletes of the Third Reich but another competitor a few years later: Captain America--that is the original Captain America, Captain Steve Rogers.

JM: It’s good to have you on the show, Mr. Owens.

JO: Please, call me Jesse.

JM: Now, Mr. Owens, I’ve done my research. I have it on good authority your name is in fact James Cleveland. To which I’ll say, I’m proud you belong to the noble contingent of Jameses--I recall back in the war I fought in a unit primarily composed of them.

JO: (laughs) Yes, yes, all right. But it’s Jesse, nonetheless, and has been since I was a kid and my teacher misheard me saying ‘J.C.’

JM: It is how the world hears us that matters, isn’t it?

JO: I suppose that’s what I’m doing here, Mr. Morita.

JM: All right, Jesse, then. And you can call me Jim.

JO: Thanks for having me, Jim.

JM: You know, I’m a big fan of your jazz show, too. I tune in as often as I can. That’s WNTD, folks: jazz from noon to three--I listen on my lunch break.

JO: You like jazz?

JM: Heck, I even liked jazz when the Nazis played it. You might not have heard that, stateside. Goebbels put together a nice little Nazi jazz band called Charlie and His Orchestra.

JO: Were they any good?

JM: Charlie was no Miles Davis, I’ll tell you that. We used to laugh at them.

JO: I think I’d like to listen to that. I didn’t hear a lot of jazz over in Nazi Germany. They played Wagner in the Olympic stadium.

JM: Hitler sure was a fan of Wagner. I try not to let that spoil it for me.

JO: Hitler was a fan of my running, and I tried not to let that spoil it, either.

JM: Really? Because, you know, a lot of people say that Hitler snubbed you--that you showed him up, showed up his idea of Aryan superiority.

JO: Actually, he was pretty friendly--gave me a little salute. I think there are pictures. And he sent me a signed photograph, too.

JM: You still have that?

JO: Sure, I keep it right by my signed Captain America trading cards. Cap signed the one of himself punching out Hitler for me. He was a nice man, Captain America--Steve Rogers, I mean.

JM: So Hitler gave you a friendly salute?

JO: That’s right, he did. I still wonder why. It’s possible that it didn’t mean much to him that I had beaten his runners. It may have meant just as much to him as it means to me when I beat a horse.

JM: You mean in a race, when you ran against horses? You don’t mean beating a horse, as in beating a dead horse--

JO: (laughs) That’s right, I try not to do that.

JM: And I try not to beat a dead horse, but it is interesting, isn’t it, to think that no matter what superiority you may demonstrate--people like Hitler can argue against it.

JO: I like to hope there aren’t too many people like Hitler out there.

JM: There sure aren’t too many people like Jesse Owens.

JO: Well, I don’t know. Ralph Boston sure showed me. I don’t mind my records being broken--but it’s a little bit like losing an old dog, you know; you get attached.

JM: Here, I’ll put this to you; maybe we ought to hope there could be a lot of people like you--though not so many quite as fast.

JO: Thank you for that.

JM: Now, you mentioned running against horses. You did that several times early in your professional running career.

JO: That’s right. I ran a lot of races just for the money. There is glory in four Olympic medals, but you can’t feed your family on them.

JM: When you were facing Captain America, what were a few of the thoughts that ran through your head?

JO: My first thought was I’ve got to make sure he signs something for my daughters.

JM: And did he?

JO: He most certainly did, and they still have those trading cards, just like I have mine.

JM: And your second thought?

JO: My second thought was that he looked mighty funny in those tights.

JM: (laughs)

JO: I’m just speaking to my nearest recollection. I believe--I believe I also made a joke to him about his motorcycle. I had just run a race against a motorcycle, you see, so I said that he might do better if he had brought his along.

JM: And what did he say to that?

JO: He found it very funny. He said that wouldn’t be fair, as Howard Stark had specially designed the engine. Then he said, well, Howard Stark specially designed his engine as well. So I said, yes, but either way, you’re doing the driving.

JM: That was gracious of you.

JO: I had reason to be gracious. Howard Stark paid good money for me to run that race. Though I believe he lost a fair amount betting against me.

JM: That’s Howard; he does have a great deal of faith in his technologies. So you made a few jokes, and then--we have footage here, and I’ll describe it. What I see is you instructing, or demonstrating, to Captain America how to get down into a start position?

JO: He had practiced, I think, but he had some nerves. He hadn’t used starting blocks before. I was sympathetic to that. I never liked them much myself; I started my running career before we used them. I wanted to make sure we had an even contest, so I gave him a few tips.

JM: An even contest? What you mean is, despite the serum, you believed that you were truly competing in a fair matchup.

JO: Every race is a fair matchup. What I mean by that is every race is run against yourself.

JM: Do you think Steve--Captain America--do you think he felt the same way?

JO: Well… he… he was clearly embarrassed to be there, actually.

JM: You mean he seemed uncomfortable at the crowd’s attention?

JO: I’m not too sure about that. I don’t know what the man was thinking. He seemed gracious enough about the whole thing. He was there to sell war bonds, so he wanted to put on a show.

JM: But you say he was embarrassed. From what he told us; he seems to have been embarrassed by a lot of the USO shows, so that’s not entirely unexpected.

JO: I’ve got a lot of sympathy for that. I just remember after the Games, how they sent me around all over--the ballyhoo was ridiculous. My arm cramped up signing so many signatures, and it just got tiring. I saw that in the man’s face, all right; Captain America was fairly tired. Though he brightened up a little when it came to the actual race. He said at least he didn’t have to read cue cards for this.

JM: He was nervous, though, as you say?

JO: He was nervous. He kept looking at the men doing the timing for the race. He said, ‘I get jumpy when I see men in white coats with stopwatches standing over me.’ I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, but said it would be all right. I did think it was funny.

We’ve talked about how I used to race horses. Well, this wasn’t entirely different. You see, the key thing to racing against a horse is you’ve got to get a high-strung Thoroughbred and a loud starting gun, and the animal will be so spooked it won’t be able to run all out. In that sense it’s not a fair contest--it’s a show. I felt like Steve Rogers wasn’t so different from a spooked horse at first. I do think if he’d settled down a bit the outcome of the race might’ve been different. But truthfully, I was glad that he cared about his performance. So I had sympathy for him, as I said.

JM: You said something else, didn’t you? In the footage of the race, though, he starts smiling--right there. What did you say to him there?

JO: I told him what cut my nerves, when I got worried about a meet.

JM: You know, you never _appear_ to be worried. Having watched your races--footage, mostly, I’m afraid I was more of a baseball man in my youth…..

JO: It’s funny you should say that. I just heard the New York Mets want me to help them out as a running coach.

JM: You ought to do it! They need the help.

JO: (laughs) I’ll do my best.

JM: As we were saying. Captain America--he was nervous while you were getting ready to race, but you told him something that made him smile.

JO: I told him the best thing I ever did for my nerves was get hurt. That’s how I set my all-time records way back in high school: I’d wrenched my back falling down the stairs earlier that week. My coach didn’t want to let me run, but I knew I could do it.

JM: Go on.

JO: I told that story to Steve. I said it made me focus like nothing else, getting injured. Of course, since then people kept suggesting I go throw myself off a roof before a big race. I’m sure there were those at Hitler’s Olympics who would have done it for me.

JM: (laughs)

JO: Captain America found that funny, too.

JM: I imagine he did.

JO: You know something else? His start. I should tell you and all of your listeners, if you’re not acquainted with track, that the only real way to get a perfect start in a race is to cheat a little. You’ve got to jump the gun by just about a split second, so no one can detect it. We all do that. Steve, though--Captain America--well, he hadn’t trained for it. He didn’t know how to do that. And besides, he was a good sportsman. I will say that.

JM: Now, you won this race, and we’ve all seen the picture--it is a vivid one. Steve never ran as though it were easy, the way you do. You can see the strain on his face as he falls behind you at the finish. Whereas you look quite graceful, as usual, leaning forward at the end.

JO: He was ahead of me up to about eighty yards. Now, I usually came from behind like that, but I wasn’t too sure Captain America wouldn’t turn out to have another gear. Truthfully, I was curious. As it turned out, I had a gear that he didn’t. He leaned back too much--that’s not something you should do. Good sprinting is like falling forward.

JM: Right, due to propelling your center of gravity forward, almost as if your legs have to struggle to keep up.

JO: I also always tried to put each foot down for as little time as possible, too. Like the ground was a hot stove.

JM: A peril that Mr. Stark’s new microwave seeks to avoid, as we’ll see when we break for commercial. But to the race--the time would have been a world record if it weren’t for the wind that picked up. The wind was with you--or rather against you in this case, isn’t that right? That had happened before; you ran a 9.3 wind-aided time before, isn’t that right?

JO: In high school, that’s right, at a meet in Wisconsin. As for the 9.3 I ran in ‘43, I wasn’t looking to set any records that day, but I think Captain America helped. It’s always good to run against the best. It makes all of us work a little harder; it’s inspiring. That’s why I always liked running against Eulace--Eulace Peacock I mean. Or Metcalfe, or Wykoff, or any number of fellows.

JM: And then you had the broad jump--the broad jump went a little differently, didn’t it?

JO: I always say there’s not too much technique to jumping. You just pick up speed, take off, and tuck your legs up while you fling yourself as far as you can. I almost never jumped all-out, either, because Larry--

JM: Larry Snyder, your coach, is that right? He was Head Coach of last year’s Olympic team.

JO: Yeah, Larry told me not to, for fear of pulling something. But after that race I expected I might have to pull out all the stops to beat Captain America.

JM: But that’s not how it turned out?

JO: I may have been wrong in saying there’s no technique at all.

JM: Well, surely there’s technique to anything.

JO: Jumping isn’t awfully complicated, but it does take focus. It’s easy to feel afraid, when it’s over in a moment like that. Even with the stakes low like they were that day--I don’t think he wanted to win in particular; I think he truly wanted to give it his best shot, though. He figured he wanted to be respectful, to give the contest its due, which I appreciated.

JM: Right, even though by his standards, I imagine the contest was unfair. After all, you had trained for years, whereas he had been treated with a serum.

JO: That’s right. Anyhow, it took about six tries for him just to avoid faulting on the line. I had to ask the cameras to cut off and give him a few tips. I think he hadn’t known they planned on doing the broad jump as well as the race; I think they wanted to see if he could win at something. They should have had us do the hurdles. That was never my best. I guess the broad jump looked more impressive--Captain America flying through the air.

JM: Here I see you’re talking to Steve again.

JO: I told him about the ‘36 Olympics. You know, when I fouled on my first jump approach. And Luz Long, who would be the silver medalist, pulled me aside and gave me a pep talk. It’s funny. I’ll never forget the look of him. I suppose Steve reminded me of him a little. Tall, blond, very Aryan, very…. well, there are only a few times I’ve been intimidated, physically, by another athlete, and these are two of them. Long was a special kind of man. Steve Rogers was a special kind of man. They both died in the war, though.

JM: Long--he died after a battle in Sicily, didn’t he? I’ve read about that engagement, and spoken with some men who were there. We didn’t acquit ourselves well on the Allied side, there; our soldiers executed unarmed Italians and Germans. There’s--now, pardon me my own tangent. We don’t like to talk about this, but there are evils done on both sides of a conflict, and there are great goods. I’ve seen the pictures of Long with his arm around you, waving at the crowd.

JO: That’s right. We talked for several hours afterwards, too, about the problems in his country, and… wishes for better things. He wrote me a letter, during the war. I--

JM: I believe I’ve read about that.

JO: He said, “When the war is over, please go to Germany, find my son, and tell him about his father. Tell him about the times when war did not separate us--and tell him that things can be different between men in his world.” That’s what Long said. And he signed it, “Your brother.”

JM: That’s remarkable.

JO: Anyway, that was Luz Long, and I’ll always respect him and remember him. I don’t mean to take up air time on that--

JM: Any regular listeners of the show expect nothing less. I’m struck. I’m really struck. Better things--that things can be different. That’s remarkable.

JO: You see, I think that’s the difference, for us as Americans. It’s possible to reasonably believe in better things.

JM: Not that we’re perfect the way we are. But that striving is possible.

JO: Do you know something--Steve Rogers; Captain Rogers. He sent me a note too, once he’d made it to the front.

JM: Really!

JO: Yes, I figured I had better bring it, so it’s in my pocket here. It’s a fairly short note.

JM: Would you care to read it to us? This is--folks, if you’re just tuning in, this is Jesse Owens here reading a little thank-you note written to him by Captain Steve Rogers.

JO: All it says is, “Jesse, thank you very much for the tips on my long jump. I know I never came close to your record, but your advice to take a fast rush at it, tuck my legs up hard and not worry about the landing once I’m already flying sure came in handy. I appreciate it.” I’d actually been meaning to ask, since you were good friends with the fellow, what he might have meant by that.

JM: I do recall him jumping out of any number of tanks we’d set on fire, but nothing specific comes to mind.

JO: I guess we’ll never know, then, but it’s a nice thought; that I helped him out.

* * *

 

_The sound of a radio through an open window, shutters flung carelessly wide. Laundry flutters against the side of the building. From its movement he reads the direction of the wind. He is momentarily puzzled, though, at the sight of long underwear flying like a flag. He thinks in English, that is awful funny._

_But duty presents itself. The point of his mind sharpens, and the world drops away. He enters the tighter, cleaner world of his body._

_No distractions._

_Purity. Clarity. His body a vessel for the crackling electricity of his aim._

_He crouches, ready for his shot. One knee rests on the building roof and he sights through the scope down into the town square._

_There is a tiny communications device hooked over his ear. It is smaller than the devices he can remember having before; it is not a chunky, blocky receiver, it is small and streamlined._

_A radio that could fit in the point of a pencil, wouldn’t that be a thing?_

_Heat floods him so he almost shakes, carried on the thin breath of radio waves. The sound of a familiar voice. He kneels, for some reason, and touches the tips of his flesh fingers to the ground next to his foot before he brings his hand back up to the pistol: a posture he has not assumed for a long time. Head bent as if in prayer._

_A crouch on a dirt track, the taste of mud and clay in his teeth._

_The wait for the crack of a pistol, and not the rifle he holds._

_The crack of a pistol and take off running.... running with eyes clear up into the clear blue sky, and mouth open to taste the air…_

_The target appears._

_He squints._

_He shoots._

_He takes off running and leaps to the next roof._

_Legs tucked up. Body thrown forward._

_Why think of where you’ll land?  
_

**Author's Note:**

> -Find me on tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/samtalksfunny)!  
> -[Some of my meta musings for this story are posted here.](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/samtalksfunny/132984263553)  
> -This story is posted in honor of the release of the new film about Jesse Owens, [Race](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3499096/). Go see it.  
> -as always, thanks to beta [stripyjamjar](http://archiveofourown.org/users/stripyjamjar/pseuds/stripyjamjar) for the help with this piece--and to [cabloom](http://archiveofourown.org/users/cabloom) for encouraging me to publish it.


End file.
